USA > Louisiana > Orleans Parish > New Orleans > Standard history of New Orleans, Louisiana, giving a description of the natural advantages, natural history settlement, Indians, Creoles, municipal and military history, mercantile and commercial interests, banking, transportation, etc. > Part 5
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6. Opposite to the mouth of Red river were Father Davion's Tunicas, a small tribe that had proved so friendly to the French that the King of France had conferred upon their chief the title of General of the Red Armies, and had sent him a silver medal attached to a blue ribbon, and a gold-headed cane-honorable marks of favor, which gave inexpressible delight to the savage heart.
7. Above the Tunicas was the famous tribe of Natchez, who have been mentioned as the most enlightened of all the tribes with which the French came in contact. Not only did the Natchez win the regard of Du Pratz, but they aroused at a later period the enthusiasm of the distinguished Frenchman, Cha- teaubrand, who resided with them for a while .* Claiborne, with a naturai reaction from the eulogies of these authors, declares that there was nothing to distinguish them from other savages ; but neither this writer nor Father Charle- voix seems to do the Natchez justice. Though friendly to the French at first, the anger of these Indians was aroused by the ill treatment of a commandant at Fort Rosalie near their villages, and they arose to the massacre of the French. When an attempt was made to punish them, they took refuge in Northern Lou- isiana, and stood at bay on Sicily Island, in Catahoula parish. Here the French attacked them in 1731, but many of the warriors slipped away in the night time, and after doing all the damage they could in Louisiana they slipped across the river, where the hospitality of the Chickasaws bade them welcome.
On the west bank of the Mississippi the Louisiana tribes were generally smaller and less important than those we have mentioned. Some of them lived so quietly that the French knew them only by name, while a few of them are to be found to-day not far from the haunts where they were first visited by the white man two hundred years ago.
8. On the west bank, between the river and Barataria Bay, were bands of Tchaouchas and Ouachas. The Ouachas were quiet and inoffensive; but after
* Chateaubriand's sojourn among the Natchez, however, is doubted by some modern critics.
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the Natchez massacre, when it was feared that New Orleans itself would be overwhelmed by a general uprising of the Indians, Governor Perier sent down a small army of negroes, who fell upon the Ouachas and destroyed them-men, women, and children. Perhaps the Tchaouchas were involved in their ruin, for no further mention is made of either tribe.
9. On Bayou Lafourche, near Donaldsonville, was a tribe of Chetimachas (a Choctaw word meaning "possessing vessels for boiling"). A number of these Indians are still to be found on Grand river and Bayou Teche. In 1703 they killed a priest named St. Cosme, who had fallen into their hands; and, to avenge his death, Bienville persuaded a band of Indians composed of Biloxis, Natchez, and Bayougoulas to attack them. The Chetimachas were so nearly de- stroyed that the remnant of the tribe was glad to make peace with the French and live apart. Many of them, however, were taken prisoners by the Indians and sold as slaves to the French. In general, the Indians proved so sullen and unruly as slaves that the French preferred the more docile negro; but du Pratz, who bought a Chetimacha girl to serve as cook, praises in the highest terms her faithful services. He even declares that when her tribe offered to purchase her freedom she refused to leave him-a rare instance, if it is true. Du Pratz also maintains that the Chetimachas were kindred of the Natchez, but modern investi- gators hold that at least in language these two tribes were not related.
10. Along the coast of the west were the Attakapas. The name means "man- eating," from Choctaw, hittok, a person, and uppa, to eat. It was believed that they were in the habit of eating the bodies of their enemies. Thinking that they must have another name for themselves, du Pratz, without venturing into their neighborhood, made many inquiries about them ; but he was never able to dis- cover any other appellation than Attakapas. They seem to have been the only tribe in Louisiana addicted to cannibalism; but in Texas, as late as 1838, the same custom prevailed. General Albert Sidney Johnston relates that while pur- suing, with friendly Tonkaways, some Lipan horse thieves in Texas, they came upon a gigantic brave, who, on foot, long outstripped his pursuers. At length, finding his enemies closing around him, he turned, and defiantly shouting "Lipan !" rushed among them to certain death. Next day his Indian allies told General Johnston that they had cooked the Lipan, and asked him to dinner, nor could they be made to understand his abhorrence at feasting on the flesh of an enemy.
Du Pratz tells us that the French remonstrated with the Attakapas on the
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wiekedness of eating their fellow-creatures, and that they promised to give up the custom-a promise which they faithfully kept as far as he could learn.
11. Above La Fourche was a small tribe of Bayougoulas, perhaps near the present town of that name. Their name is derived from two Indian words, signi- fying "those living near the bayouc," or rivulet. Iberville and Bienville visited this tribe, and found them living in comfortable cabins, and actually raising some ehiekens, which they had evidently obtained from the Spaniards. Some twenty years later they had been absorbed by other tribes and had seemingly lost their identity.
12. Above Pointe Coupée were the Opelousas, whom du Pratz ealls the Oque-loussas, or Black Water Indians. They were so named because they dwelt on two little lakes whose water appeared black from the quantity of leaves at the bottom .*
13. Above the rapids of Red river were a little tribe of Avoyels. These made their living by bringing cattle and horses from the Spanish settlements and selling them to the French. In consequence horses became so cheap in Lou- isiana that they could be purchased for twenty francs a piece.
14. On Red River, one hundred and fifty miles above the Avoyels, were the Natchitoches. They were a numerous band, and occupied about two hundred lodges. Near them was the French post of the same name, at which they and many other tribes traded freely.
15. Still higher up on the Red was the powerful tribe of Cadodaquioux or Caddos, from whom Caddo Parish derives its name. The remains of this tribe are found at the present day in Indian Territory.
16. Before Du Pratz's time there had been a band of Ouachitas on the Washita, but the Chiekasaws had nearly destroyed them in one of their raids, and the remnant of the tribe had taken refuge among the Caddos.
17. In the present parish of Tensas there had been a tribe of Tensas. They were visited by La Salle in 1683, and again by Iberville in 1700, but in Du Pratz's time they had emigrated to the neighborhood of Mobile. At a later day they were destined to return to Louisiana. These Indians had a religion similar to that of the Natchez, and worshiped the Sun in a great temple, where three priests kept alive the sacred fire as a symbol.
Sueh is a brief account of the principal tribes that lived in Southern Louis- iana at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Besides these there wer?
* Dr. Sibley thinks that the word means " black head " or " black skull."
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bands of Indians of a nomadic character, who visited Louisiana for brief spaces of time, either on war expeditions or in the peaceful pursuit of the fur trade.
Let us now turn to a brief consideration of the salient characteristics of these Southern Indians. The tribes that have been mentioned seem to have had fixed habitations, and to have been engaged in agriculture, or rather horticulture, as well as in hunting and fishing. The braves, taking for themeslves the exciting sports of hunting and fighting, spent their time when at home in smoking or in apathetic idleness, varied from time to time by the excitement of a tribal dance. The squaw thought it no disgrace to till the fields, and to raise the corn, the po- tatoes, and the pumpkins for the family larder. Nay, she would have regarded with contempt a husband that took her place at these occupations. Moreover, the early colonists who accepted the hospitality of the natives, found that the women were no mean cooks, and could prepare appetizing dishes of sagamite- corn meal boiled in water and mixed with the fat of the deer or bear-or of meat barbecued at their open fires. One of the favorite entrées, however, was a roasted dog, specially fattened for the feast. Father Marquette relates that, when he was making his voyage down the Mississippi, the Indians on one oc- casion served up to him as a special treat a roasted dog, but when they saw his aversion to such a dish, they promptly brought some buffalo meat, and the chief put into the mouth of his guest the choicest morsels.
When Bienville found provisions running short in his early settlement on Mississippi Sound, he allowed some of his men to take up their residence among the neighboring Indians. Here they easily accommodated themselves to the wild life of the woods, and were often reluctant to return to the civiliza- tion of the forts. The hunting, the dancing around the fire at night, the free- dom from irksome duties proved only too fascinating. In truth the colonists showed much greater capacity for uncivilizing themselves, and falling into savage ways, than the natives possessed for adopting the civilization of the white man. It has often been remarked that the Indian's adaptability did not seem to ex- tend much beyond the appropriation of the white man's vices. From the very first the fire water exercised its potent influence over the savage, and Colonel Stoddard, who was stationed at Natchitoches during the early years of the nine- teenth century, deplores the wild orgies of the Indians when they visited that post ; just as, many years later, Abbé Rouquette was shocked and grieved to see the drunken Choctaws rioting through the streets of New Orleans.
We have already spoken of the noble efforts of the Catholic missionaries to
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inculcate in the savage breast the principles of their religion, and of the slow progress they made in awakening the simple minded natives to an appreciation of the truths they came to preach. Some of the tribes, the Choctaws especially, already believed in a "Great Spirit, the Giver of Breath," but their conception of the attributes of such a deity was so dim and vague that it had no influence on their lives. Of the religious beliefs of the other tribes with which the French came in contact we know little, except of the Natehez and the Tensas. Both these tribes, as has been said before, had temples to the Sun, and had established a kind of priestly caste who attended to the sacred fire. The Natchez told Du Pratz-so he says-that they believed in a spirit "infinitely great, that has made all that we see or can see ; He is so good that He could do no evil to any one, even if he wished it." This Deity had made all things, ineluding man, by His will ; but there were, also, little spirits that could have made the beautiful things in nature. They did not worship the Great Spirit, because it was unnecessary to propriate a deity that could do them no harm. The air, however, they said, was full of evil spirits with a chief at their head more wicked than they ; and all evil spirits they were careful to win over for fear of the harm they might do.
This is what Du Pratz relates. One cannot help feeling that he has adapted the words of the Natchez to his own preconceptions. It is more likely that, as Le Petit, one of the Jesuit fathers, tells us, the Natchez were simply worshipers of the sun. Their great chief was called the Sun, and he in turn ealled the sun his brother. As soon as that luminary appeared in the heavens, the chief would salute it with a long howl, and wave his hand from east to west, directing what course it should travel .*
Closely connected with their religion were superstitious rites often of the most terrible character. For instance, when Iberville visited the Tensas in 1700, near what is now St. Joseph, it so happened that the Sun Temple had just been set on fire by lightning. The priest called upon the women to bring their infants to appease the angry god. The French were horrified to see three of these innocents cast into the flames, and had they not protested vigorously, and aided in putting out the fire, the horrible sacrifice would have continued. Among the Natchez, also, it was the custom, when one of the Suns or chiefs, died, to strangle a number of children and adults to serve as attendants upon the de- ceased in the spirit world. As it was considered an honor to perish with the chief, the French found it very difficult to persuade the Natchez to abolish this custom.
* Claiborne's History of Mississippi.
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Among all the tribes great respect was shown to the jugglers or medicine men. These prepared themselves for their profession by a fast of nine days, during which, with loud cries and beating of drums, they called upon the Spirit to receive them as medicine men. With much quackery, there was doubtless min- gled much knowledge of hygienic herbs. We know that the Indians of the west still prepare a liquor that, when drunk at the snake dance, renders the venom of the rattler innocuous. Du Pratz, who was several times treated by the medicine men, believed that he had received great benefit from their ministrations, and came to prefer them to the French surgeons that had settled in the colony.
In their grand powwows with the French, the Indians often exhibited great sagacity, and sometimes extraordinary powers of eloquence. Their languages con- tained no abstract terms, but they employed similes and metaphors drawn from nature, with an appropriateness that was often the admiration and envy of their listeners. If Lanier is right in saying that the metaphor is born of love rather than of thought, we may conclude that the Indian was in loving sympathy with nature, and learned much from her teachings. Those among the natives whose office it was to interpret the treaties, had often trained their memories to such a point that they would repeat word for word long speeches made by previous speakers, before pronouncing their own discourses. Many of the Indian ora- tions that have come down to us, even with due allowance for the additions and improvements of the interpreters, illustrate the great gifts of the most practised speakers among them. An Indian chief, who was anxious to visit President Jefferson, said to Major Stoddart : "If I could only see my great Father, and obtain from him some word declaratory of justice to my nation, it would be like the beams of the sun breaking through a cloud after a storm."
Du Pratz was present when a band of Chetimnachas came to smoke the pipe of peace with Bienville. After the calumet had been presented and smoked in turn by the chief men of the assembly, the chief arose, and spoke with "wonder- ful grace of gesture and majesty of mien." The following extract from his speech is translated from the French of Du Pratz: "Formerly the sun was red, the ways were filled with briars and thorns, the clouds were black, the waters were troubled, and stained with our blood. Our women wept without ceasing, our children cried affrighted, the dcer fled from us afar, our houses were aban- doned, our fields were waste, we had nought to fill our stomachs, and our very bones began to appear. But to-day the sun is warm and bright, the sky is clear, the clouds have gone, the ways are pleasant to walk, the waters are so clear that
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we behold our images therein. The deer has returned to its haunts, our women dance until they forget to eat, our children leap about like young fawns, the heart of the whole nation laughs with joy to see that to-day, O Frenchmen, we shall walk along the same path, the same sun will shine upon us; our tongues will speak the same word, our hearts will beat as one; we shall break bread to- gether like brothers. Will that not be pleasant to behold ? What sayest thou, () chief of the pale faces ?"
In their family life the Indians of Louisiana seem to have generally been happy and contented. The marriage bond was a loose one, and divorce was per- missible at the option of either party, without the aid of court or lawyer. Yet during the eight years that Du Pratz stayed among the Natchez, he heard of only one case of separation. The women were, of course, in a state of subjection to their husbands, which would not be tolerated in this age of sexual equality. It was possible to find squaws that had been deprived of their ears or noses for some real or fancied offence given to their lords and masters, but family brawls were rare.
· Generally speaking, the whites found the natives to be dangerous enemies. When their resentment had once been aroused, they were capable of any treach- ery to accomplish their vengeance. For the captive taken in war, when he was not reduced to slavery, or adopted into the tribe, they could invent the most ex- quisite tortures, and in these, brave and squaw alike participated. From the stoical indifference of their victims, however, they were seldom able to evoke anything but the death song, which was shouted as long as life lasted. Even the women, as we have seen in the case of the Natchez squaw burned at New Orleans, were capable of heroic deaths.
But if they were often bitter enemies, the natives showed themselves no less capable of abiding friendships. Even if it be untrue that they were never the first to break a treaty of peace, the tribe would always maintain that any infrac- tion of their agreements was due to the impulsive young braves whom the sager heads could not restrain.
All the early writers agree that if an Indian committed homicide within the tribe, and the council condemned him to death, he never tried to evade the penalty. There was no imprisonment, no bail; the condemned went free, but punctual to the day appointed, he appeared to meet his fate without a murmur. If the homicide were committed outside of the tribe, the relatives of the deceased would endeavor to avenge the murder. Martin relates that in a quarrel between
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a Choctaw and a Colapissa, the latter slew the former, and fled to New Orleans. The relatives of the Choctaw pursued the murderer, and requested the governor, the Marquis of Vaudreuil, to surrender him. An attempt was made to buy off their vengeance with presents, but they steadily refused to be satisfied with any- thing but a life for a life. In the meantime the murderer escaped, and his old father came forward to offer his own life for that of his son. To this the Choc- taws consented, and when the old man had stretched himself out on the trunk of a tree, a Choctaw severed his head from his body at one blow. This instance of paternal affection, adds Martin, was afterwards made the subject of a tragedy by Leblanc de Villeneuve, an officer of the French troops in Louisiana.
It has been stated above that the Choctaws generally remained the friends of the French. Some bands of them, however, falling under English influence, attacked the settlements above New Orleans, and finally came in conflict with some French soldiers near the city. This was in 1748, and it is said to have been the last Indian battle fought in this neighborhood .* The French were vic- torious, and the Choctaws took refuge on the shores of the lake. Doubtless the Indians of St. Tammany Parish are descended from this wandering band.
DURING THE SPANISH DOMINATION.
In the year 1764 news reached New Orleans that the whole province of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, together with the island on which the city stood, had been transferred by Louis XV. to the King of Spain. When the Spanish government finally took possession, the French were at peace with the Indians. In 1753, Governor Vaudreuil had made war on the Chickasaws, the old enemies of the French ; but, as in the campaigns of Bienville, these Indians, long in league with the English, had defended themselves with their usual suc- cess. With the rest of the tribes, the French carried on an active trade at Natchitoches and other posts, and the chiefs were conciliated by handsome pres- ents to prevent them from trading with the English colonies or in any way com- bining against the French.
The Spaniards pursued the same sagacious policy. When the brilliant young Spanish governor, Galvez, made war on the British in 1780, and captured the forts at Baton Rouge and Natchez, he was accompanied by some 160 Indians, drawn from the "German Coast" and other districts in Louisiana. Quoting
* Claiborne's History of Mississippi.
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from the Madrid Gazette of that day Gayarre states that "these Indians showed themselves, for the first time, alive to the voice of humanity, and abstained from doing the slightest injury to the fugitives that they captured; nay, they had im- proved so much as to carry in their arms to Galvez, with the most tender care, the children who had taken refuge in the woods with their mothers. This change in their habits was due to the influence exercised over them by Santiago Tarascon and Joseph Sorelle, under whose cominand they had been placed."
In 1783 all Florida was ceded to Spain, and a year later we find Governor Miro holding a great congress of the Indians, first at Pensacola and later at Mobile. The Talapouches, the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, the Alabamas, and other smaller tribes were entertained with a magnificence that was characteristic of the Spanish government. Treaties of commerce and alliance were ratified; costly gifts were distributed, and the savage warriors grunted their approval of everything Spanish and their hatred of everything American. Even after this love feast, however, we find McGillivray, the half-breed chief of the Talapouches, seeking a pension from the American government to supplement the one he was enjoying from the Spaniards.
The sixth article of the treaty concluded at Mobile, as given by Gayarre, seenis to show that the Indians had experienced a great change of character, or had adopted a different policy from that which distinguished them sixty years before. We find them declaring that, in conformity with the humanity and generous sentiments cherished by the Spanish nation (words that seem to indi- cate a parallel change in Spanish heart or policy since the days of De Soto), they renounced forever the custom of raising scalps or of making slaves of white cap- tives. Such prisoners, in imitation of the usages of civilized nations, were to be either exchanged or yielded up to ransom.
The trade in peltry had now become very profitable, yielding at least twenty- five per cent. gain to the Spanish government, and strict regulations were made to prevent the traders from defrauding or alienating the natives.
It is interesting to note that when, some years before this period, O'Reilly became governor he found that the colonists, under the French régime, had been permitted to purchase from the natives some of their Indian prisoners of war, thus saving them from death by torture. O'Reilly, however, whatever he may have thought of negro slavery, declared that the practice of reducing Indians to slavery was "contrary to the wise and pious laws of Spain, but that the present
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owners might hold their slaves until the will of the sovereign was known."* We hear nothing more of the matter until the year 1793, when the mild Baron Ca- rondelet was governor of Louisiana. Suddenly the Indian slaves rose up and demanded their freedom. But Carondelet did not adopt the views of O'Reilly. He wrote to the king that it would be dangerous to free the Indian slaves, as well as ruinous to their masters. Emancipation should be either positively refused or delayed and discouraged. The baron added that the efforts of the Indians to obtain their freedom were doubtless aided and abetted by secret agents who wanted to stir up trouble in the privincet A little later there was a slave in- surrection in Louisiana, which had to be put down with a stern hand; but there is no record of the Indian slaves having had a share therein. As the negro slaves were preferred for their docility, doubtless the number of Indians subject to in- voluntary servitude was never very large.
DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The cession of Louisiana, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, by Spain to France and by Franee to the United States did not, as far as the pres- ent writer can learn, affect the fortunes of the Indians living in the southern part of the vast territory. They doubtless found little difficulty in adapting themselves to the new order of things, and they may have viewed the introduc- tion of American control with as little enthusiasm as did the Creoles themselves.
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